


Your Next Move's Off the Map

by dizzy



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-18
Updated: 2009-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-03 07:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/pseuds/dizzy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for matt1969, gave me the prompt: <i>After Sam learns she's no longer the Atlantis CO, no babyfic please.</i></p><p><i>Your next move's off the map, beyond the twilight zone;<br/>You can't stay one more day, you simply must move on.</i> <br/> - Steve Forbert</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Next Move's Off the Map

**Sam**

Jack isn't in D.C. when Sam makes it there for her debriefing.

She sleeps on the trip from Colorado to D.C. They keep her in meetings for six hours straight and finally let her go with the understanding that she'll return after the extraction ceremony. She hops the first red-eye right back to Colorado Springs that she can find even though the government would have put her up in a posh hotel overnight.

He's not answering his cell phone or his home phone, and his personal assistant tells her that he was on vacation, and has been for a week. Confusion mixes in with the hurt and betrayal that she's already feeling and they all settle together like lead in the pit of her stomach. She can't eat and she can't sleep and she can't even cry, which is kind of funny, because she's usually quick to tears in situations like this. It's always been something about herself that she disliked, but right now any kind of release from this numbing, aching sense of disconnection would be welcome.

She thinks about calling Daniel once she's hit Colorado soil but it's easier to just find a taxi. She doesn't have much with her. Her belongings will be shipped from Atlantis, she's told. She thinks of someone else packing all of her stuff up and feels her stomach twist. For a second, she thinks she's going to be sick but she clamps down on the feeling and it goes away.

Her house is still there. It was her father's house before he left for D.C. and she couldn't bring herself to sell it when she moved to Nevada, or when she left for Atlantis. There's someone that comes in to clean it twice a month, so the dust won't be caked too thickly and there will be clothes in the closet. The refrigerator will be empty, but she still doesn't think she could eat.

She figures that Jack is either here, in Colorado Springs, or at his cabin in Minnesota. She wonders if she's the reason he left. If maybe their little badly-kept-secret of a relationship got exposed and they removed him from what were certainly countless meetings about who would replace her in Atlantis. It makes sense, on some level - but none at all on another, because Jack would have told her something like that. Somehow, he'd have let her know.

She's still wearing her Atlantis uniform. It's wrinkled and smells like the stale air from the airplane. She takes it off right there, standing in her living room, and tosses it onto the floor. She walks into her bedroom and throws open the closet, putting on the first thing she finds.

She paces the rooms of her house, opening every door just to look inside. She feels like she's going to crawl out of her skin. When her phone rings, she nearly lets out a noise of surprise but years of military training keep her quiet while her heart thuds. The cell phone was never much use on Atlantis, but she always made sure to charge it before returning to Earth so she'd be able to get in touch with the people that she was adamant about not losing contact with - Jack, Cassie, Daniel.

She doesn't recognize the number but picks up the phone anyway. "Sam," Daniel's voice says, pure relief compacted into the syllable. "Where are you? I just heard. Those, those absolute fuc-"

"I'm in Colorado." She cuts him off. She hasn't even processed her own anger about the situation. Someone else's anger - even if that someone is Daniel - feels overwhelming. "Do you know where Jack is?"

"What? Oh. Yes, yeah, he's here. I mean, not _here_ here, but he's in Colorado Springs. Why haven't you talked to him yet?"

"No, his cell phone's off. Maybe I shouldn't interrupt him."

"Just go see him. Sam, I know he won't mind."

"Okay." She takes a breath, realizing he can probably hear how shaky it is.

"And call me later. Okay?"

She almost smiles. Daniel's protective side is one that rarely shows where she is concerned. It's funny to her that he would never think to try and protect her from physical pain or trauma. He'd never play martyr in the field or even make the assumption that there was something she couldn't handle. But he knew how she was with emotion, he knew how she operated and how her mind worked, and he knew that he was one of the very few people that she would let herself break down - be disappointed, be hurt, be confused - in front of. "I will," she promises.

It's only half past seven, so she changes clothes and calls a cab.

 

**Jack**

He waits in his kitchen until the coffee maker finishes. He takes two mugs and fills them. One stays black while the other gets two sugars and a splash of milk. He's proud of himself for remembering that.

"Thank you," Sara says, accepting the mug when he hands it to her.

He'd rather have a beer, but Sara never liked him drinking.

"So." She smiles at him and opens her mouth to speak but a knock on the door interrupts them. "Are you expecting anyone?"

"Nope. Hold on, I'll get rid of 'em."

He puts his coffee down and heads for the front door.

He could not be more surprised at who he sees on the other side. "Carter?"

"Jack." She says, and he voice sounds funny. She puts her hands on his face and kisses him hard, a little bit desperate.

"Carter, what the hell are you doing here?"

She pulls away, looking embarrassed but undeniably glad to see him. "Can I come in?"

"What? Yes. Yeah. Of course." He steps aside... and immediately feels like the biggest ass in the world when Sam sees his ex-wife standing there.

"You have company." Sam says, taking a step backward toward the door. She looks pale and Jack immediately grabs her arm. He's still trying to figure out exactly how and why she's here. His understanding was that she wouldn't be in town for another day.

"Yeah, Carter, this is Sara-"

"I remember." Sam gives him a tight smile and then backs away even more. "I'll just... go. I'm gonna go, and you can call me - or I'll see you tomorrow for the ceremony."

"Hey, wait, Carter-" She's gone and Jack's first instinct is to run after her but Sara's presence grounds him. He lets the door shut and grabs for her phone, dialing a familiar number. "Daniel. What on earth is Carter doing.. _on earth_?"

"What? Jack, you didn't know? They replaced her."

Jack rubs a hand against his forehead. "What do you mean, they replaced her?"

"In Atlantis. They put Woolsey in charge. She just found out today, this morning. I spoke to her earlier and she said she couldn't get in touch with you. I told her that you were in town."

"Goddamnit, Daniel." Jack curses, because who else is he going to be angry at right now?

"What?"

He hangs up the phone. Sara is standing there, staring at him. "Who was that woman, Jack?"

Jack drops down onto the sofa. "You've met her before. Years ago. Her name's Samantha Carter."

"And she is your... girlfriend?"

Jack doesn't say anything... which is apparently enough of an answer for Sara.

"Jack." She touches his arm. Her voice is kind, but firm. "What just happened here?"

"She... lost her job today. Had a great assignment, got replaced. I didn't know."

"Were you supposed to know?"

"Ah." He looks upward and then winces. "Yeah. Maybe. I'm her superior officer. I wanted to get all of this stuff out of the way before the- before I have to leave again. Told everyone that unless the President himself was calling, not to interrupt me."

"And... they didn't, so you didn't know." Sara's smile is sympathetic. "Jack, she'll understand."

"Yeah." He says, but his heart obviously isn't in it.

"Jack." Sara's hand covers his now. "How long have you been together?"

"It's... complicated. About two years but before that... we couldn't, while we served together, but I...

"You loved her?"

"... yeah."

"Then she'll understand. Buy her some flowers, get her some chocolate. Make her feel better."

He laughs. "Carter isn't really the flowers and chocolate kinda girl."

"Jack. Every girl is a chocolate kind of girl." She laughs.

"Okay. Yeah."

He looks at her. Sara seems to be expecting him to do something.

"But you should probably go find her now."

"Oh. Jeez. Right." He stands up. "Look, I'm sorry, we'll do this some other time."

"It's fine. You can tell me all about Samantha, then." Sara smiles at him - a little bit sad, but mostly understanding. He leans forward and kisses her impulsively, close-mouthed and just this side of chaste. She kisses back and looks surprised when he pulls away.

"I'll call you." He says, and grabs his keys. He waits until Sara's on her way and then locks up and gets in his rental car. It's not a long drive to Carter's house but it seems to take forever.

He doesn't really think she'll be all that unreasonable about it. It's not like she caught them naked in bed. He has every right to see his ex-wife if he wants.

He grabs his phone again and dials Washington. Using sheer willpower and rank alone, he gets a ten minute briefing on what happened in his absence and why Samantha Carter is no longer mission leader in Atlantis.

Following that, there is a lot of cursing... and then he's pulling into her driveway.

 

**Sam**

She's sitting on her kitchen floor. She's not sure why this seemed like the best place to sit and cry, but it's where she ended up. Her back is against a cabinet and her knees are drawn up, her arms wrapped around them. By now the tears have made an appearance, and conveniently, they begin to fall the moment she got in her car and pulled out of Jack's driveway.

She hears her front door open and close. She assumes it's Daniel. She didn't call him, but that would be the kind of thing he would do.

Only Daniel thinks she's with Jack, so that means it's probably...

"Carter?"

She listens to Jack's footsteps as he checks her living room and then her bedroom for her. She doesn't say anything that would alert him to her presence. Part of her wishes that he'd just go away. Yes, she'd gone to him for comfort and yes, she'd obviously interrupted an evening with his ex-wife. But she'd rather not advertise how painfully insecure she can be about her personal relationships. Not on top of the insecurity she's suddenly feeling over her time in Atlantis. Logically, rationally, she can understand that she really did nothing wrong but logic and rationale have taken the night off. Maybe by tomorrow she'll think of this as a weakness but right now she needs to grieve for a place she's come to love - not like here, not like home, but love nonetheless. Atlantis still there but it isn't hers anymore and it hurts like hell. She'll give herself tonight and in the morning she'll pull herself together and do what needs to be done, whatever that may be.

"Carter, what are you doing on the floor?"

She looks up at Jack and then wipes her face. "Crying."

"I can see that." He sighs and then gets down on the floor beside her. One of his knees pops, and he grunts. He settles right beside her, shoulder to shoulder. "I just want you to know, if I can't get up again it's completely your fault."

"Yes, sir."

"Hey, none of that." He looks at her. "C'mere."

She puts her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I ruined your evening."

He looks up, probably rolling his eyes. "Carter. You don't apologize for that. In fact, I'm the one doing the apologizing. They've been gunning for another non-military mission leader in Atlantis for the past three months. I shoulda known as soon as I left, they'd jump on the chance. I would have fought for you, Carter."

The last sentence is said in a quiet voice. Sam reaches out and finds Jack's hand with hers and squeezes it. "Thank you."

"Hey, we'll get you an even more cool posting now. Atlantis was too far away. Maybe somewhere closer... how does the moon sound to you?"

Sam laughs. "The moon?"

"Yeah. How cool would _that_ be? An SGC-run moon base? Come on. That's just _cool._"

"Whatever you say, sir." She smiles and kisses his shoulder.

He goes serious, the hand attached to the arm around her squeezing gently. "Carter. Sara wasn't there to be... I mean, we weren't..."

"It's okay. I didn't think it was anything... like that."

"Really? Cause you kinda, you know, ran out like your pants were on fire."

"I was... jealous." She admits, burying the urge to lie to him. She's pretty sure she left dignity and pride behind when she sat down on her kitchen floor to cry. "But I wasn't exactly thinking straight. Might still not be."

"Well, just for the record, you don't have any reason to be jealous. She just wanted some help with... stuff. Her dad died so she's selling the house, moving. Wanted to let me have some of Charlie's stuff. Spent the past few days going through it all, talking and... Remembering. Him. She gave most of his toys and stuff away years ago, but there were pictures and old schoolwork, projects he did. He liked model airplanes... she gave me those."

In twelve years of working together and two of being more, it's the most she's ever heard him say about his son or his ex-wife. She sniffles and rests her head on his shoulder.

"Hey," He says, voice soft. She's still not used to hearing him talk to her like that - gentle, sweetly, like a lover. It's a world away from the way he addresses her when they're on base or in a briefing. She remembers now, all of a sudden what a rush it gave her those first few months. Not that they've ever gotten to spend enough time with each other.

She leans over and kisses him. He kisses right back, his hand coming to rest on the back of her neck. They both shift on the hard floor so that they're facing each other, letting the cabinets take most of their weight. He brushes the side of her face with his fingertips so gently that it makes her want to cry again, but not the same tears as before. She gasps when they part, and then presses her face against his neck. He kisses her temple, her cheek, and then says, "Carter?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we get up off the floor now? My ass is killing me."

 

**Jack**

He gets up in the morning before Sam is awake. They can't arrive on base together. Their relationship may be a badly kept secret but they still maintain absolute discretion and professionalism on base. Being saviors of the world only gets them so much latitude, much to his disappointment.

It feels great to put BDUs on again. He still isn't used to wearing his dress blues every single damn day of the week.

This is his first official day off from vacation. Once he gets to the mountain, he'll have hours of phone calls before he heads out with SG-3 to the extraction site to rendezvous with his old Tok'ra buddies. He hopes he'll see Carter around on base before then, but leaves her a note just in case he doesn't.

_Carter,_

_Dinner tonight? It's on me. We can talk about that "moon base" some more. _

_-J_


End file.
